Flinder of bone

I had my CT scan last Friday. I have to admit–the machine was very cool. The office was in Columbus Circle, so the moon-gate machine stood in this corner room with spectacular Christmas-in-the-City views. Because the machine is so big, the room was actually the largest single room I’ve been in in midtown. I was amazed at how quickly and silently the levers raised the cot I lay on, up and forward, up, up, and slightly more forward. Barely a whir.

This morning, the orthopedist left a detailed and kindly message on my voicemail; I was asleep, apparently he works early. A corner of my bone has chipped off; the ligament surrounding it tore it loose when I fell.

I am surprised: first of all, I think my bones are very, very strong. I drank nothing but whole milk with all meals until college. I’ve never had a broken bone: how does a piece chip off? Secondly, I think of ligament as– sort of loose, muscular, stringy. How does that have enough strength to make bone disconnect from bone? I must no nothing about physiology.

Luckily, the bone piece is “aligned well,” so I don’t need a pin or surgery. I just have to keep it in the cast, and stay off of it, for six more weeks. So much easier said than done– I already have cabin fever and am dying to get back into the office where I work, and I dearly want to walk around downtown and see all the Christmas windows.

Maybe I can hire one of those pedicabs to drive Matt and me around, shop window to shop window.

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Here’s the way I understand it, remember that I only have a master’s in clinical psychology, so I’m about as accurate as wikipedia. Having a ligament tear off a piece of the bone is not that uncommon. Think of it as having screwed curtains onto your wall (I don’t know why you would do that, but I also don’t know where to begin to build a skeleton). If you ripped the curtains, nine times out of ten the fabric will just tear. But if you pull just right, you’ll yank out the screw and tear up the drywall. That can happen in severe sprains or it may happen because the bone was particularly vulnerable at that time. You bones are constantly absorbing and rebuilding themselves. You can actually cause small micro-fractures from everyday living without noticing them–hitting your shin hard on the coffee table, slamming your finger in a door. Most of the time the osteoblasts are able to rebuild the area before the micro-fracture can turn into a stress fracture and then a true fracture. So maybe (and this is a 100% Amanda theory) there could be a micro-fracture and with a second trauma can cause a true break. I’m sure yours is just the result of a sprain and will probably be a once in a lifetime experience.

Wow, my post is mostly me thinking aloud. I’ll try to curb that. It’s good to hear that your ankle is doing well. Are you still on crutches? Our house is not crutches friendly. Let us know and we’ll see what we can rearrange. Some quick advice, Febreze your boot every now and again. It’ll get funky and then the funk seeps into your pores…and…blugh.

Amanda– you’re brilliant. That is the best metaphor–the curtain and the plaster. I totally “saw” it. So, so smart.

Yes, I’m on one crutch. But if we’re just sleeping upstairs, I’ll just go up there once a day or so. And I’ll just get tired more quickly– I notice that if I have to go up to campus (which is all different levels of a quad with various sets of three or four stairs) I’m very tired afterwards. So I’ll just have a lazy Christmas, and it will be fine.